Johannesburg
Encyclopedia
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
capital of Gauteng
Gauteng
Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...
, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
. The city is one of the 40 largest metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
s in the world, and is also the world's largest city not situated on a river, lake, or coastline. It claims to be the lightning capital of the world, though this title is also claimed by others.
While Johannesburg is not one of South Africa's three capital cities, it is the seat of the Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court of South Africa
The Constitutional Court of South Africa was established in 1994 by South Africa's first democratic constitution: the Interim Constitution of 1993. In terms of the 1996 Constitution the Constitutional Court established in 1994 continues to hold office. The court began its first sessions in February...
, which has the final word on interpretation of South Africa's new post-Apartheid constitution. The city is the source of a large-scale gold and diamond trade, due to its location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
range of hills. Johannesburg is served by O.R. Tambo International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of Southern Africa. More recently Lanseria International Airport has started international flights, and is situated conveniently on the opposite side of the metropolis.
According to the 2007 Community Survey, the population of the municipal city was 3,888,180 and the population of the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area
Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area
The Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area is the name of the area surrounding the city of Johannesburg, in South Africa. It includes Johannesburg and the areas of the East Rand and West Rand. It is often referred to as the Witwatersrand, or Rand, after a low mountain range that runs through the...
was 7,151,447. A broader definition of the Johannesburg metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
, including Ekurhuleni, the West Rand
West Rand
The West Rand is the name of the urban western part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. This area became settled by Europeans after a gold-bearing reef discovered in 1886 and sparked the gold rush that gave rise to the establishment of...
, Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
and Lenasia, has a population of 10,267,700.
The municipal city's land area of 1645 km² (635.1 sq mi) is very large when compared to other cities, resulting in a moderate population density of 2364 /km2.
Johannesburg includes Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
, which was a separate city from the late 1970s until the 1990s. Originally an acronym for "South-Western Townships", Soweto originated as a collection of settlements on the outskirts of Johannesburg populated mostly by native African workers in the gold mining industry. Eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, the apartheid regime (in power 1948–1994) separated Soweto from the rest of Johannesburg to make it a completely Black area.
The area called Lenasia is now also part of Johannesburg, and is predominantly populated by those of Indian ethnicity since the apartheid era.
The Gauteng
Gauteng
Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...
province as a whole is growing rapidly due to mass urbanisation, which is a feature of many developing countries
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
. According to the State of the Cities Report, the urban portion of Gauteng comprising primarily the cities of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni (the East Rand) and Tshwane (greater Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
) will be a polycentric urban region
Conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
with a projected population of some 14.6 million people by 2015.
History
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
-speaking people started moving southwards from central Africa and encroached on the indigenous San population. By the mid 18th century, the broader region was densely settled by various Sotho–Tswana communities (one linguistic branch of Bantu-speakers), whose villages, towns, chiefdoms and kingdoms stretched from what is now Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
in the west, to present day Lesotho
Lesotho
Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...
in the south, to the present day Pedi
Northern Sotho language
Northern Sotho , also inaccurately known by the name of a major dialect, Pedi or sePedi, is one of the official languages of South Africa, and is spoken by 4,208,980 people — in the South African provinces of Gauteng,...
areas of the northern Transvaal.
More specifically, the stone-walled ruins of Sotho–Tswana towns and villages are scattered around the parts of the former Transvaal in which Johannesburg is situated. The Sotho–Tswana practised farming, raised cattle, sheep and goats, and extensively mined and smelted copper, iron and tin. Moreover, from the early 1960s until his retirement, Professor Revil Mason, of the University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
, explored and documented many Late Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
archaeological sites throughout the Johannesburg area, dating from between the 12th century and 18th century, and many of these sites contained the ruins of Sotho–Tswana mines and iron smelting furnaces, suggesting that the area was being exploited for its mineral wealth before the arrival of Europeans or the discovery of gold. The most prominent site within Johannesburg is Melville
Melville, Gauteng
Melville is a Bohemian suburb of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. It is the location of many restaurants and bars, which are mostly frequented by students from the nearby University of Johannesburg, located in Auckland Park. It is also one of the city's gay villages.The suburb was proclaimed on...
Koppies, which contains an iron smelting furnace.
Many Sotho–Tswana towns and villages in the areas around Johannesburg were destroyed and their people driven away during the wars emanating from Zululand
Zulu Kingdom
The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or, rather imprecisely, Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the north....
during the late 18th and early 19th centuries (the mfecane or difaqane wars), and as a result, an offshoot of the Zulu kingdom, the Ndebele
Ndebele people (Zimbabwe)
The Ndebele are a branch of the Zulus who split from King Shaka in the early 1820s under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former general in Shaka's army....
(often referred to by the name the local Sotho–Tswana gave them, the Matebele), set up a kingdom to the northwest of Johannesburg around modern day Hartebeestpoort
Hartbeespoort, North West
Hartbeespoort, informally also known as "Harties", is a small resort town in the North West Province of South Africa, situated on slopes of the Magaliesberg mountain and the banks of the Hartbeespoort Dam. The name of the town means "gateway of the hartbees" in Afrikaans...
and Rustenburg
Rustenburg, North West
Rustenburg |Dutch]]: Town of Rest) is a city and a local municipality of 395,539 inhabitants situated at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range in North West Province of South Africa...
, and historians believe that the Matebele kingdom dominated the Johannesburg area.
The Dutch speaking Voortrekkers
Voortrekkers
The Voortrekkers were emigrants during the 1830s and 1840s who left the Cape Colony moving into the interior of what is now South Africa...
arrived in the early 19th century, driving away the Matebele with the help of Sotho–Tswana allies, establishing settlements around Rustenburg and Pretoria in the early 1830s, and claiming sovereignty over what would become Johannesburg as part of the South African Republic
South African Republic
The South African Republic , often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer-ruled country in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. Not to be confused with the present-day Republic of South Africa, it occupied the area later known as the South African...
(known informally as the Transvaal Republic). Gold was discovered in the 1880s and triggered the gold rush
Witwatersrand Gold Rush
The Witwatersrand Gold Rush was a gold rush in 1886 that led to the establishment of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was part of the Mineral Revolution....
.
Gold was initially discovered some 400 km to the east of present-day Johannesburg, in Barberton. Gold prospectors
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
soon discovered that there were even richer gold reefs in the Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
. Gold was discovered at Langlaagte, Johannesburg in 1886.
Johannesburg was a dusty settlement some 55 km from the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) capital which was Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
. The town was much the same as any small prospecting settlement, but, as word spread, people flocked to the area from all other regions of the country, as well as from North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. Like many late 19th century mining towns, Johannesburg was a rough and disorganized place, populated by white miners from other continents, African tribesmen recruited to perform unskilled mine work, African women beer brewers who cooked for and sold beer to the black migrant workers, a very large number of European prostitutes, gangsters, impoverished Afrikaners, tradesmen, and Zulu "AmaWasha," Zulu men who surprisingly dominated laundry work. As the value of control of the land increased, tensions developed between the Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
government in Pretoria and the British, culminating in the Jameson Raid
Jameson Raid
The Jameson Raid was a botched raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by a British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96...
that ended in fiasco at Doornkop in January 1896 and the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
(1899–1902) that saw British forces under Lord Roberts
Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, Bt, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, PC was a distinguished Indian born British soldier who regarded himself as Anglo-Irish and one of the most successful British commanders of the 19th century.-Early life:Born at Cawnpore, India, on...
occupy the city on 30 May 1900 after a series of battles to the south of its then-limits.
Fighting took place at the Gatsrand Pass (near Zakariyya Park) on 27 May, north of Vanwyksrust—today's Nancefield, Eldorado Park and Naturena—the next day, culminating in a mass infantry attack on what is now the waterworks ridge in Chiawelo and Senaoane on 29 May.
Controversy surrounds the origin of the name, as there were any number of people with the name "Johannes" who were involved in the early history of the city. The principal clerk attached to the office of the surveyor-general, Johannes Rissik, Christiaan Johannes Joubert, member of the Volksraad
Volksraad
The Volksraad was the parliament of the former South African Republic , which existed from 1857 to 1902 in part of what is now the South Africa. The body ceased to exist after the British victory in the Second Anglo-Boer War. The Volksraad sat in session in Ou Raadsaal in Church Square, Pretoria...
and the Republic's chief of mining, Paul Kruger
Paul Kruger
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger , better known as Paul Kruger and affectionately known as Uncle Paul was State President of the South African Republic...
, President of the South African Republic (ZAR). Rissik and Joubert were members of a delegation sent to England to attain mining rights for the area. Joubert had a park in the city named after him and Rissik street is today a main street where the (historically important and dilapidated, since burnt out) Post Office and City Hall are located. The population in 1904 was 155,642, of whom 83,363 were Whites
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
.
Major building developments took place in the 1930s, after South Africa went off the gold standard. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Hillbrow went high-rise. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the apartheid government constructed the massive agglomeration of townships that became known as Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
(South Western Townships). New freeways encouraged massive suburban sprawl to the north of the city. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, tower blocks (including the Carlton Centre
Carlton Centre
The Carlton Centre is a skyscraper and shopping centre located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. At , it has been the tallest building in Africa for 38 years. The Carlton Centre has 50 floors. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are 3.5m in diameter and extend 20m down to the...
and the Southern Life Centre
Southern Life Centre
The Southern Life Centre is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1973 to a height of .- References :*. Retrieved 11 February 2008....
) filled the skyline of the central business district. The central area of the city underwent something of a decline in the 1980s and 1990s, due to crime and when property speculators directed large amounts of capital into suburban shopping malls, decentralised office parks, and entertainment centres. Sandton City
Sandton City
Sandton City is a shopping centre located in Sandton, Johannesburg that was built as pioneer centre in 1973.-Redevelopment:Liberty Properties announced in 2008 that Sandton City would receive a R1.77 billion upgrade...
was opened in 1973, followed by Rosebank Mall in 1976, and Eastgate
Eastgate shopping centre, Johannesburg
Eastgate was Johannesburgs first 'super-regional' shopping centre. When it opened in 1979, it was the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere...
in 1979.
On 12 May 2008 a series of riots started in the township of Alexandra, in the north-eastern part of Johannesburg, when locals attacked migrants from Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, Malawi and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, killing two people and injuring 40 others. These riots sparked the xenophobic
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
attacks of 2008.
Soccer City in Johannesburg hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
final.
Geography
Johannesburg is located in the eastern plateau area of South Africa known as the HighveldHighveld
The Highveld is a high plateau region of inland South Africa which is largely home to the largest metropolitan area in the country, the Gauteng City Region, which accounts for one-third of South Africa's population.-Location and description:...
, at an elevation of 1753 metres (5,751.3 ft). The former CBD is located on the south side of the prominent ridge called the Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
(Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
: White Water's Ridge) and the terrain falls to the north and south. By and large the Witwatersrand marks the watershed between the Limpopo
Limpopo River
The Limpopo River rises in central southern Africa, and flows generally eastwards to the Indian Ocean. It is around long, with a drainage basin in size. Its mean annual discharge is 170 m³/s at its mouth...
and Vaal
Vaal River
The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source in the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg and about 30 km north of Ermelo and only about 240 km from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its conjunction...
rivers. The north and west of the city has undulating hills while the eastern parts are flatter.
Johannesburg may not be built on a river or harbour, but its streams are the source of two of southern Africa's mightiest rivers. A number of streams meander through the suburbs of Johannesburg, and form the source of two of southern Africa's primary rivers – the Limpopo and the Orange. Most of the springs from which many of these streams emanate are now covered in concrete and canalised, accounting for the fact that the names of early farms in the area often end with "fontein", meaning "spring" in Afrikaans. Braamfontein, Rietfontein, Zevenfontein, Doornfontein, Zandfontein and Randjesfontein are some examples. When the first white settlers reached the area that is now Johannesburg, they noticed the glistening rocks on the ridges, running with trickles of water, fed by the streams – giving the area its name, the Witwatersrand, "the ridge of white waters". Another explanation is that the whiteness comes from the quartzite rock, which has a particular sheen to it after rain.
Climate
Johannesburg features a Subtropical highland climate (KöppenKöppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
Cwb). The city enjoys a dry, sunny climate with late afternoon thundershowers in the summer months of October to April. Temperatures in Johannesburg are usually fairly mild due to the city's high altitude, with the average maximum daytime temperature in January of 25.6 °C (78.1 °F), dropping to an average maximum of around 16 °C (60.8 °F) in June. Winter is the sunniest time of the year, with mild days and cool nights, dropping to 4.1 °C (39.4 °F) in June and July. The temperature occasionally drops to below freezing at night, causing frost
Frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...
. Snow is a rare occurrence, with snowfall having been experienced in May 1956, August 1962, June 1964, September 1981 and August 2006 (light). Snow fell again on 27 June 2007, accumulating up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in the southern suburbs.
Regular cold fronts pass over in winter bringing very cold southerly winds but usually clear skies. The annual average rainfall is 713 millimetres (28.1 in), which is mostly concentrated in the summer months. Infrequent showers occur through the course of the winter months.
Despite the relatively dry climate, Johannesburg has over ten million trees, and it is now the biggest man-made forest in the world, followed by Graskop
Graskop
Graskop is a small town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. It was set up in the 1880s as a gold mining camp but it now serves as a timber industry and milling centre. The name is Afrikaans for grassy peak. “God’s Window”, a breathtaking view from the escarpment of the Lowveld below, is located...
in Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga , is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area...
which is the second biggest. Many trees were originally planted in the northern areas of the city at the end of the 19th century, to provide wood for the mining industry. The areas were developed by the Randlord
Randlord
Randlord is a term used to denote the entrepreneurs who controlled the diamond and gold mining industries in South Africa in its pioneer phase from the 1870s up to World War I....
, Hermann Eckstein
Hermann Eckstein
Hermann Ludwig Eckstein was a South African mining magnate and banker.-Life history:Born in Hohenheim near Stuttgart, Germany to a Lutheran minister, he received an excellent education...
, a German immigrant, who called the forest estates Sachsenwald. The name was changed to Saxonwold, now the name of a suburb, during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Early (white) residents who moved into the areas Parkhurst, Parktown, Parkview, Westcliff, Saxonwold, Houghton Estate, Illovo, Hyde Park, Dunkeld, Melrose, Inanda, Sandhurst, now collectively referred to as the Northern Suburbs, retained many of the original trees and have even expanded their forests with the encouragement of successive city councils. In recent years however, deforestation has occurred to make way for both residential and commercial redevelopment.
Cityscape
Carlton Centre
The Carlton Centre is a skyscraper and shopping centre located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. At , it has been the tallest building in Africa for 38 years. The Carlton Centre has 50 floors. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are 3.5m in diameter and extend 20m down to the...
, Marble Towers
Marble Towers
The Marble Towers is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1973 and is 32 storeys tall. The building has an eight-storey parking garage attached to it. It has the biggest electronic sign in the Southern Hemisphere, measuring 44 metres by 32...
, Trust Bank Building
Trust Bank Building
Trust Bank Building is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1970 to a height of 140 metres. The building is the former head office of Trust Bank of South Africa, and as such has one of the largest bank vaults in South Africa...
, Ponte City Apartments
Ponte City Apartments
Ponte City is a skyscraper in the Hillbrow neighbourhood of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1975 to a height of , making it the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa. The 54-story building is cylindrical, with an open center allowing additional light into the apartments. The center...
, Southern Life Centre
Southern Life Centre
The Southern Life Centre is a skyscraper in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1973 to a height of .- References :*. Retrieved 11 February 2008....
and 11 Diagonal Street
11 Diagonal Street
11 Diagonal Street is a skyscraper in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1984 to a height of 80 metres. It is designed to look like a diamond as it reflects different views of the Central Business District from each angle of the building....
.
Architecture
Johannesburg is home to some of Africa's tallest structures, such as the Sentech TowerSentech Tower
Sentech Tower is a TV tower in the Brixton suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a well-known and easily identifiable landmark in the city, alongside its architectural cousin, the Hillbrow Tower.-History:...
, Hillbrow Tower
Hillbrow Tower
The Hillbrow Tower is a tall tower located in the suburb of Hillbrow in Johannesburg, South Africa. At , it has been the tallest structure and tower in Africa for 40 years, and it was also the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere until 1978, when surpassed by the 270m Mount Isa Chimney in...
and the Carlton Centre
Carlton Centre
The Carlton Centre is a skyscraper and shopping centre located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. At , it has been the tallest building in Africa for 38 years. The Carlton Centre has 50 floors. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are 3.5m in diameter and extend 20m down to the...
. The Johannesburg city skyline has most of the tallest buildings on the continent and contains most international organisations such as IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Absa
Absa Group Limited
The Absa Group Limited is the largest consumer bank in South Africa.- Overview :Absa is based in Johannesburg and listed on the JSE Limited and is one of South Africa's largest financial institutions...
, BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
, Willis Group, First National Bank, Nedbank
Nedbank
Nedbank is one of the largest banks in South Africa; however it is one of the newest banks to be incorporated in South Africa. It is headquartered in Johannesburg...
and Standard Bank
Standard Bank
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited is one of South Africa's largest financial services groups. It operates in 30 countries around the world, including 17 in Africa.-History:...
. Many of the city's older buildings have been pulled down and more modern ones built in their place. North of the CBD is Hillbrow, the most densely populated residential area in southern Africa. Northwest of the CBD is Braamfontein
Braamfontein
Braamfontein is a central suburb of Johannesburg, in South Africa. It is well located, straddling Jan Smuts Avenue and Empire Road. The Nelson Mandela bridge is a landmark that connects Braamfontein to the city...
, a secondary CBD housing many offices and business premises.
Parks and gardens
Parks and gardens in Johannesburg are maintained by Johannesburg City ParksJohannesburg City Parks
Johannesburg City Parks is a Not-for-Gain company established under Section 21 of the South African Companies Act and wholly owned by the City of Johannesburg.It is tasked with the maintenance of burial grounds, parks, green areas and trees around Johannesburg....
. City Parks is also responsible for planting the city's many green trees, making Johannesburg one of the 'greenest' cities in the world. It has been estimated that there are six million trees in the city – 1.2 million on pavements and sidewalks, and a further 4.8 million in private gardens. City Parks continues to invest in planting trees, particularly those previously disadvantaged areas of Johannesburg which were not positive beneficiaries of apartheid Johannesburg's urban planning.
Johannesburg Botanical Garden
Johannesburg Botanical Garden
The Johannesburg Botanical Garden is located in the suburb of Emmarentia in Johannesburg, South Africa.The gardens were established in 1968 and cover an area of around...
, located in the suburb of Emmarentia
Emmarentia, Gauteng
Emmarentia is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Within its boundaries, one can find:* Emmarentia Dam* Emmarentia Rose Gardens* Emmarentia Primary School* part of the Melville Koppies...
, is a popular recreational park.
Residential areas
Johannesburg's residential areas range from luxurious, wooded suburbs, to shanty towns and squatter settlements. Alexandra, a township northeast of the city centre, is home to about 125,000 people. It was established by workers who migrated from rural areas in the late 1930s. Since the 1980s, large numbers of people have moved to Johannesburg in search of work. A lack of housing in the city has forced many to set up squatter settlements on the outskirts of the city. Most of these communities lack electricity and running water, and residents live in makeshift shacks made of scrap metal,board, and other discarded materials. In some settlements, such as Phola Park south of Johannesburg, town planners have attempted to build streets and provide residents with basic needs.Demographics
According to the 2001 South African National CensusStatistics South Africa
Statistics South Africa is the national statistical service of South Africa, with the goal of producing timely, accurate, and official statistics in order to advance economic growth, development, and democracy. To this end, Statistics South Africa produces official demographic, economic, and...
, the population of Johannesburg is 3,225,812 people (though including the East Rand and other suburban areas it's around 7 million), consisting of people who live in 1,006,930 formal households, of which 86% have a flush or chemical toilet
Chemical toilet
A chemical toilet is a toilet which uses chemicals to deodorize the waste instead of simply storing it in a hole, or piping it away to a sewage treatment plant. Common types include aircraft lavatory, some passenger train toilets and the portable toilets used on construction sites and at large...
, and 91% have refuse removed by the municipality at least once a week. 81% of households have access to running water, and 80% use electricity as the main source of energy. 29% of Johannesburg residents stay in informal dwellings. 66% of households are headed by one person.
Blacks account for 73% of the population, followed by whites at 16%, coloured
Coloured
In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers to an heterogenous ethnic group who possess ancestry from Europe, various Khoisan and Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaya, India, Mozambique,...
s at 6% and Asians at 4%. 42% of the population is under the age of 24, while 6% of the population is over 60 years of age. 37% of city residents are unemployed. 91% of the unemployed are black. Women comprise 43% of the working population. 19% of economically active adults work in wholesale and retail sectors, 18% in financial, real estate and business services, 17% in community, social and personal services and 12% are in manufacturing. Only 0.7% work in mining.
32% of Johannesburg residents speak Nguni languages at home, 24% speak Sotho languages
Sotho languages
The Sotho–Tswana languages are a group of closely related Southern Bantu languages spoken in Southern Africa that include:*Tswana , Sotho , Northern Sotho *Lozi...
, 18% speak English, 7% speak Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
and 6% speak Tshivenda. 29% of adults have graduated from [high school]. 14% have higher education (University or Technical school
Technical school
Technical school is a general term used for two-year college which provide mostly employment-preparation skills for trained labor, such as welding, culinary arts and office management.-Associations supporting technical schools:...
). 7% of residents are completely illiterate. 15% have primary education.
34% use public transportation to commute
Commuting
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...
to work
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
or school. 32% walk to work or school. 34% use private transportation to travel to work or school.
53% belong to mainstream Christian churches, 24% are not affiliated with any organised religion, 14% are members of African Independent Churches
African Initiated Church
An African Initiated Church is any of a number of Christian churches independently started in Africa by Africans and not by missionaries from another continent, in which they sometimes hold to one or more African tribal belief systems syncretised with Christianity.-Nomenclature:A variety of...
, 3% are Muslim, 1% are Jewish and 1% are Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
.
Johannesburg has a large Latter-day Saint (or Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
) membership, with around 48,112 members, and had the first LDS Temple built in Africa. It was dedicated in 1985 and is located in the historic suburb of Parktown.
Government
Coloured
In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers to an heterogenous ethnic group who possess ancestry from Europe, various Khoisan and Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaya, India, Mozambique,...
. The white authorities were 90% self-sufficient from property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
and other local taxes, and produced and spent ZAR
South African rand
The rand is the currency of South Africa. It takes its name from the Witwatersrand , the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found. The rand has the symbol "R" and is subdivided into 100 cents, symbol "c"...
600 (USD 93) per person, while the black authorities were only 10% self-sufficient, spending R 100 (USD 15) per person.
The first post-apartheid City Council was created in 1995. The council adopted the slogan "One City, One Taxpayer" in order to highlight its primary goal of addressing unequal tax revenue distribution. To this end, revenue from wealthy, traditionally white areas would pay for services needed in poorer, black areas. The City Council was divided into four regions, each with a substantially autonomous local regional authority that was to be overseen by a central metropolitan council. Furthermore, the municipal boundaries were expanded to include wealthy satellite towns like Sandton and Randburg, poorer neighbouring townships such as Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
and Alexandra, and informal settlements like Orange Farm.
In 1999, Johannesburg appointed a city manager in order to reshape the city's ailing financial situation. The manager, together with the Municipal Council, drew up a blueprint called "iGoli 2002". This was a three-year plan that called upon the government to sell non-core assets, restructure certain utilities, and required that all others become self-sufficient. The plan took the city from near insolvency
Insolvency
Insolvency means the inability to pay one's debts as they fall due. Usually used to refer to a business, insolvency refers to the inability of a company to pay off its debts.Business insolvency is defined in two different ways:...
to an operating surplus
Economic surplus
In mainstream economics, economic surplus refers to two related quantities. Consumer surplus or consumers' surplus is the monetary gain obtained by consumers because they are able to purchase a product for a price that is less than the highest price that they would be willing to pay...
of R 153 million (USD 23.6 million).
Following the creation of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Johannesburg was divided into eleven administrative regions (which did not correspond to the areas governed by the former local authorities). In 2006, the number of administrative regions was consolidated, from eleven to seven.
Crime
After the Group Areas ActGroup Areas Act
The Group Areas Act of 1950 was an act of parliament created under the apartheid government of South Africa on 27th April 1950. The act assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid...
was scrapped in 1991, Johannesburg was affected by urban blight. Thousands of poor, who had been forbidden to live in the city proper, moved into the city from surrounding black townships like Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
and many immigrants from economically beleaguered and war torn African nations flooded into South Africa. Many buildings were abandoned by landlord
Landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
s, especially in high-density areas, such as Hillbrow. Many corporations and institutions, including the stock exchange, moved their headquarters away from the city centre, to suburbs like Sandton.
Reviving the city centre is one of the main aims of the municipal government of Johannesburg. Drastic measures have been taken to reduce crime in the city. These measures include closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
on street corners. As of 11 December 2008, every street corner in Johannesburg central is under high-tech CCTV
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
surveillance. The CCTV system, operated by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), is also able to detect stolen or hijacked vehicles by scanning the number plates of every vehicle travelling through the Central business district (CBD), then comparing them to the eNaTIS database. The JMPD claims that the average response time by police for crimes committed in the CBD is 60 seconds.
Crime levels in Johannesburg have dropped as the economy has stabilised and begun to grow. Between 2001 and 2006, R9-Billion (US$1.2 billion) has been invested in the city centre. Further investment of around R10-Billion (US$ 1.5 billion) is expected in the city centre alone by 2010. This excludes development directly associated with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In an effort to prepare Johannesburg for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
, local government enlisted the help of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani to help bring down the crime rate, as the opening and closing matches of the tournament were played in the city.
Economy
MasterCard
Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...
, Johannesburg ranked 47 out of 50 top cities in the world as a worldwide centre of commerce (the only city in Africa).
Mining was the foundation of the Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
's economy, but its importance is gradually declining due to dwindling reserves and service and manufacturing industries have become more significant to the city's economy. While gold mining no longer takes place within the city limits
City limits
The terms city limits and city boundary refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limits is sometimes called the city proper. The terms town limits/boundary and village limits/boundary mean the same as city limits/boundary, but apply to towns and villages...
, most mining companies still have their headquarters in Johannesburg. The city's manufacturing industries extend across a range of areas and there is still a reliance on heavy industries including steel and cement plants. The service and other industries include banking, IT, real estate, transport, broadcast and print media, private health care, transport and a vibrant leisure and consumer retail market. Johannesburg has Africa's largest stock exchange, the JSE although it has moved out of the central business district. Due to its commercial role, the city is the seat of the provincial government and the site of a number of government branch offices, as well as consular offices and other institutions.
There is also a significant informal economy consisting of cash-only street traders and vendors. The level of this economic activity is difficult to track in official statistics and it supports a sector of the population including immigrants who are not in formal employment. This informal industry is arguably the largest in the world, perhaps only second to the informal sector of Beijing.
The Witwatersrand urban complex is a major consumer of water in a dry region. Its continued economic and population growth has depended on schemes to divert water from other regions of South Africa and from the highlands of Lesotho
Lesotho
Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...
, the biggest of which is the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, but additional sources will be needed early in the 21st century.
The container terminal at City Deep is known to be the largest "dry port" in the world, with some 50% of cargo that arrives through the ports of Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
and Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
arriving in Johannesburg. The City Deep area has been declared an IDZ (industrial development zone) by the Gauteng government.
Retail
Johannesburg's largest shopping centre is Sandton CitySandton City
Sandton City is a shopping centre located in Sandton, Johannesburg that was built as pioneer centre in 1973.-Redevelopment:Liberty Properties announced in 2008 that Sandton City would receive a R1.77 billion upgrade...
, while Hyde Park
Hyde Park Corner (shopping centre)
Hyde Park Corner is a shopping centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Hyde Park at the major intersection of Jan Smuts Avenue and William Nicol Drive. and was completed in November 1969 as one of the first fully enclosed decentralised shopping centres in South Africa.-External links:*...
is one of its most prestigious. Other centres include Rosebank
Rosebank, Gauteng
Rosebank is a cosmopolitan commercial and residential suburb in the northwestern part of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 3, and will be the location of a Gautrain station in 2011....
, Eastgate
Eastgate shopping centre, Johannesburg
Eastgate was Johannesburgs first 'super-regional' shopping centre. When it opened in 1979, it was the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere...
, Westgate
Westgate Shopping Centre
Westgate Shopping Centre may refer to:* A shopping centre in Horizon View, Johannesburg.* Westgate Shopping Centre in Oxford, England.* Westgate Shopping Centre In Ottawa, Ontario...
, Northgate
Northgate Shopping Centre, Johannesburg
Northgate Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Northriding.It has one of the few remaining functioning ice-rinks in the area....
, Southgate
Southgate Shopping Centre
Southgate Shopping Centre is a large shopping centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Mondeor and is one of the ten largest shopping centres in South Africa, with over 160 commercial tenants. The centre has long served the nearby township of Soweto. Opened in late 1990 as Apartheid...
, The Glen Shopping Centre, Johannesburg South, Cresta
Cresta Shopping Centre
Cresta Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located on the border of Northcliff and Cresta. It has gone through eight recent extensions and refurbishments....
and Clearwater mall. There are also plans to build a large shopping centre, known as the Zonk'Izizwe Shopping Resort, in Midrand. "Zonk'Izizwe" means "All Nations" in Zulu language
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
, indicating that the centre will cater to the city's diverse mix of peoples and races. Also a complex named Greenstone in Modderfontein has been opened. See :Category:Shopping centres in Johannesburg.
Communications and media
Beeld
Beeld is an Afrikaans language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. Beeld is distributed in five provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and KwaZulu-Natal. Die Beeld was an Afrikaans language Sunday newspaper in the late 1960s...
is a leading Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
newspaper for the city and the country, while the City Press
City Press (South Africa)
City Press is a Sunday newspaper that is aimed at black readers and is the third biggest selling newspaper in South Africa. City Press is distributed nationally and in neighboring countries including Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland...
is a Sunday newspaper that is the third largest selling newspaper in South Africa. The Sowetan
The Sowetan
The Sowetan is an English language, South African newspaper that started in 1981 as a liberation struggle newspaper and was freely distributed to households in the black township of Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province....
is one of a number of titles catering for the black market although in recent years it competes against newly arrived tabloids. The Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
The Mail & Guardian is a South African weekly newspaper, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a strong focus on politics, government, the environment, civil society and business.- The Mail & Guardian newspaper :...
is an investigative liberal newspaper while The Citizen is a tabloid-style paper, and The Star
The Star (South Africa)
The Star is a daily newspaper based in Gauteng, South Africa. It has a readership of 840 000 and is owned by Independent News & Media. It gained worldwide attention in 2006 when it published survey results according to which about twenty percent of South African men have raped a woman in...
is a local newspaper that mostly covers Gauteng
Gauteng
Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...
-related issues. The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (South Africa)
The Sunday Times is a popular South African Sunday newspaper. It has an audited circulation of 504,000 and a weekly readership of 3.2 million, making it the largest weekly newspaper in South Africa. Recently it was involved in exposing a corruption scandal involving the South African government's...
is the most widely read national Sunday newspaper. True Love is the most widely read women's magazine, catering primarily to the up and coming middle class black female market, published by Media 24. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
is a national newspaper that covers current issues.
Media ownership is relatively complicated with a number of cross shareholdings which have been rationalised in recent years resulting in the movement of some ownership into the hands of black shareholders. This has been accompanied by a growth in black editorship and journalism.
Johannesburg has a number of regional radio stations such as YFM
YFM
YFM is a "Youth" radio station in Johannesburg, South Africa. Established in 1997, the station is formatted to mostly play urban music genres such as Kwaito, Hip Hop, and R&B along with minority of its airtime dedicated to talk shows. As noted by the name, the station's core audience consists of...
, Metro FM, Phalaphala FM
Phalaphala FM
Phaphala FM is a South African radio station operating through SABC, South Africa's government owned national broadcaster. Phalaphala is broadcast in the Tshivenda language and can be received in mainly in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces....
, Talk Radio 702, Highveld Stereo
94.7 Highveld Stereo
94.7 Highveld Stereo is a radio station that broadcasts on the 94.7FM frequency from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.- History :The station first went on the air on September 1, 1964, as the first SABC regional FM service, Radio Highveld. At that time the station broadcast hourly news bulletins...
, 5FM
5FM
5FM is a South African FM radio station that follows a Top 40 music format and is owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation , South Africa's public broadcaster...
, UJ FM and Kaya FM and Classic FM. The number of radio stations has increased in recent years as the government sold off frequencies to private companies. Johannesburg is also the headquarters of state-owned broadcaster South African Broadcasting Corporation
South African Broadcasting Corporation
The South African Broadcasting Corporation is the state-owned broadcaster in South Africa and provides 18 radio stations as well as 3 television broadcasts to the general public.-Early years:Radio broadcasting began in South Africa in 1923...
and pay-broadcast network Multichoice which distributes M-Net
M-Net
M-Net is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by Naspers....
and DStv a digital satellite service, while eTV also has a presence in the city. The city has two television towers, the Hillbrow Tower
Hillbrow Tower
The Hillbrow Tower is a tall tower located in the suburb of Hillbrow in Johannesburg, South Africa. At , it has been the tallest structure and tower in Africa for 40 years, and it was also the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere until 1978, when surpassed by the 270m Mount Isa Chimney in...
and the Sentech Tower
Sentech Tower
Sentech Tower is a TV tower in the Brixton suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a well-known and easily identifiable landmark in the city, alongside its architectural cousin, the Hillbrow Tower.-History:...
.
Johannesburg has 4 Major Cellular Telecommunisations operators: Vodacom
Vodacom
Vodacom is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, and was the 1st cellular network in South Africa. It provides GSM service to more than 35 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Revenue for the year ended 31 March 2008...
, MTN, Cell C
Cell C
Cell C is South Africa’s third cell network after Vodacom and MTN, and the first cellular provider operating a dual band GSM 900/1800 MHz network, with over 7,4-million subscribers according to recent reports in Business Day and myadsl...
, and Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile is a brand used by many mobile phone service providers across the globe; its headquarters are based in the United Kingdom. Virgin Mobile has local operations in Australia, Canada, France, India, South Africa, Greece, United Kingdom and the United States. It briefly also had operations...
along with the newly established 8ta
8ta
8ta is a South African mobile telecommunications company. 8ta was launched in October 2010 and is owned by Telkom. 8ta phone numbers use the 0811 to 0814 dialling prefixes...
mobile network launched in late 2010. Vodacom's Global Headquarters is located in Midrand. It was formed in 1994, just after the South African Elections of 1994.
Music
KwaitoKwaito
Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music featuring the use of African sounds and samples. Typically at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music, Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples,...
is the musical genre from Johannesburg that is considered to be the post-struggle (post-apartheid) music of choice by South African youth. Some consider Kwaito to be apolitical dance music because the same lyrics are typically repeated throughout the entire song and are placed over the rhythms and beats of House music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
.
Kwaito has touched more than the music scene in South Africa. In recent years, it has become deeply embedded in young South African culture because it represents "the streets", street life, and the people who live there. As Grant Clark notes after his trip to Johannesburg, "Kwaito has evolved its own street style. It's not just music, it's the way you walk, talk, dance, and of course, dress."
Other than kwaito there are many other genres that have dominated the South African music industry; like house music, R&B, pop, rock, etc. Because Joburg is a place where most people are from outside of the city, there are many musical influences from all over the world.
Suburbs
Johannesburg's suburbs are the product of urban sprawl and are regionalised into north, south, east and west, and they generally have different personalities. While the Central Business DistrictCentral Business District (Johannesburg)
The Central Business District, commonly called Johannesburg CBD, is one of the main business centres of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the most dense collection of skyscrapers in Africa, however due to white flight and urban blight, many of the buildings are unoccupied as tenants have left for...
and the immediate surrounding areas were formerly desirable living areas, the spatial accommodation of the suburbs has tended to see a flight from the city and immediate surrounds. The inner city buildings have been let out to the lower income groups and illegal immigrants and as a result abandoned buildings and crime have become a feature of inner city life. The immediate city suburbs include Yeoville
Yeoville, Gauteng
Yeoville is a suburb of Johannesburg, in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. It is located in Region F .-Founding:Yeoville was proclaimed as a suburb in 1890 by Thomas Yeo Sherwell, who came from Yeovil in the United Kingdom...
, a hot spot for black nightlife despite its otherwise poor reputation. The suburbs to the south of the city are mainly blue collar neighbourhoods and situated closer to some townships
Township (South Africa)
In South Africa, the term township and location usually refers to the urban living areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites . Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities...
. The suburbs to the west have in recent years floundered with the decline of the mining industry but have in some cases experienced some revival with properties being bought up by the black middle class. The biggest sprawl lies to the east and north. The eastern suburbs are relatively prosperous and close to various industrial zones. The northern suburbs have been the recipient of most of the flight from the inner city and some residential areas have become commercialised particularly around the area of Sandton, stretching north towards Midrand, a half way point between Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria.
Traditionally the northern and northwestern suburbs have been the centre for the wealthy, containing the high-end retail shops as well as several upper-class residential areas such as Hyde Park, Sandhurst, Northcliff and Houghton, where Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
makes his home. The northwestern area in particular is vibrant and lively, with the mostly black suburb of Sophiatown
Sophiatown, Gauteng
Sophiatown is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa.Sophiatown was a legendary black cultural hub that was destroyed under Apartheid, rebuilt under the name by Triomf, and in 2006 officially returned to its original name.Sophiatown was one of the oldest black areas in Johannesburg and its...
once centre of political activity and the Bohemian-flavoured Melville
Melville, Gauteng
Melville is a Bohemian suburb of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. It is the location of many restaurants and bars, which are mostly frequented by students from the nearby University of Johannesburg, located in Auckland Park. It is also one of the city's gay villages.The suburb was proclaimed on...
featuring restaurants and nightlife. Auckland Park is home to the headquarters of the South African Broadcasting Corporation
South African Broadcasting Corporation
The South African Broadcasting Corporation is the state-owned broadcaster in South Africa and provides 18 radio stations as well as 3 television broadcasts to the general public.-Early years:Radio broadcasting began in South Africa in 1923...
, AFDA (The South African School of Motion Picture and Live Performance) and the University of Johannesburg
University of Johannesburg
The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Technikon Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University . Prior to the merger, the Daveyton and Soweto campuses of the former Vista University had been incorporated into RAU...
.
To the southwest of the City Centre is Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
, a mostly black urban area constructed during the apartheid regime specifically for housing African people who were then living in areas designated by the government for white settlement.
To the south of Johannesburg is Lenasia, a mostly Asian area which was constructed during the Apartheid era specifically to house Asians. It is closer to the city centre and smaller than Soweto.
Tourism
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, and the Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers and extends from north to south and from east to west.To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is...
. Consequently, most international visitors to South Africa pass through Johannesburg at least once, which has led to the development of more attractions for tourists. Recent additions have centred around history
History of South Africa
South African history has been dominated by the interaction and conflict of several diverse ethnic groups. The aboriginal Khoisan people have lived in the region for millennia. Most of the population, however, trace their history to immigration since...
museums, such as the Apartheid Museum
Apartheid Museum
The Apartheid Museum is a museum complex in Johannesburg, South Africa dedicated to illustrating apartheid and the 20th century history of South Africa. The structure pictured here is owned by Gold Reef - the Casino Company.- History :...
(with related visits to Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill, Johannesburg
The Constitution Hill precinct, located at the western end of the suburb Hillbrow in Johannesburg, is the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The first court session in the new building at this location was held in February 2004.-History:...
) and the Hector Pieterson Museum
Hector Pieterson Museum
The Hector Pieterson Museum is a large museum located in Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa, two blocks away from where Hector Pieterson was shot and killed. The museum is named in his honour. It became one of the first museums in Soweto when it opened in 16 June 2002...
. There is also a large industry around visiting former townships
Township (South Africa)
In South Africa, the term township and location usually refers to the urban living areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites . Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities...
, such as Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
and Alexandra. Most visitors to Soweto see the Mandela Museum
Mandela Museum
The Nelson Mandela National Museum is one of the largest tourist attractions in Soweto, South Africa. It is a museum made out of the former house of Nelson Mandela, and is filled with his personal artifacts. Long-time residents of Soweto give tours, showing the various items that belonged to...
, which is located in the former home of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
.
Visitors can get a feeling for the layout of the city by visiting the Carlton Centre
Carlton Centre
The Carlton Centre is a skyscraper and shopping centre located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. At , it has been the tallest building in Africa for 38 years. The Carlton Centre has 50 floors. The foundations of the two buildings in the complex are 3.5m in diameter and extend 20m down to the...
, in the south-eastern area of the CBD, which has an observation deck on the 50th floor. At 223 metres (731 ft), it is the highest office building in Africa and affords sweeping vistas of the city and surrounds. The Museum Africa covers the history of the city of Johannesburg, as well as housing a large collection of rock art
Rock art
Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...
. Also a large draw for tourists is Gold Reef City
Gold Reef City
Gold Reef City is a large amusement park in Johannesburg, South Africa. Located on an old gold mine, the park is themed around the gold rush on the Witwatersrand. Park staff wear period costumes of the 1880s, and the buildings on the park are designed to mimic the same period...
, a theme park which offers a depiction of mining life at the turn of the nineteenth century, including an underground mine tour; other attractions include a large amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
and a popular Tribal Dancing
African dance
African dance refers mainly to the dance of Sub-Saharan Africa, and more appropriately African dances because of the many cultural differences in musical and movement styles...
show.
The city has several art museums, such as the Johannesburg Art Gallery
Johannesburg Art Gallery
The Johannesburg Art Gallery is an art gallery located in Joubert Park, in the central business district of Johannesburg, South Africa. The building was designed by Edward Lutyens and consists of 15 exhibition halls and sculpture gardens...
, which featured South African and European landscape and figurative paintings. The Market Theatre complex attained notoriety in the 1970s and 1980s by staging anti-apartheid plays, and has now become a centre for modern South African playwriting. The Johannesburg Civic Theatre is South Africa's foremost "receiving house" of live entertainment—presenting world class theatre, both local and international. The Suburbs of Melville
Melville, Gauteng
Melville is a Bohemian suburb of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. It is the location of many restaurants and bars, which are mostly frequented by students from the nearby University of Johannesburg, located in Auckland Park. It is also one of the city's gay villages.The suburb was proclaimed on...
, Newtown, Parkhurst
Parkhurst, Gauteng
Parkhurst is a small, but dense northern Johannesburg suburb, Gauteng Province, South Africa of about 2000 households and 4000 residents.Although, it is mainly residential with many people working from their home, there are two main business roads - 4th Avenue which has the restaurants, cafes and...
, Norwood
Norwood, Gauteng
Norwood is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 3 . It borders the suburbs of Orange Grove and Houghton. It is a garden suburb, with many of its homes dating back to the 1920s and 1930s. It is also one of the more popular dining spots in the city, renowned for its...
, Rosebank
Rosebank, Gauteng
Rosebank is a cosmopolitan commercial and residential suburb in the northwestern part of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 3, and will be the location of a Gautrain station in 2011....
and Greenside
Greenside, Gauteng
Greenside is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa.Greenside was initially a farm founded by the Geldenhuys brothers.Greenside's name is considered to be Scottish in origin, and refers to the adjacent Parkview Golf Course. Most of the roads in Greenside were named after golf courses or...
are popular for their bohemian
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
atmosphere, street life, and many restaurants and bars.
Shopping is often popular with tourists, as the city offers a range of venues and experiences, from numerous upmarket shopping malls such as Sandton City
Sandton City
Sandton City is a shopping centre located in Sandton, Johannesburg that was built as pioneer centre in 1973.-Redevelopment:Liberty Properties announced in 2008 that Sandton City would receive a R1.77 billion upgrade...
and Nelson Mandela Square
Nelson Mandela Square
Nelson Mandela Square is a shopping centre in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa. Formerly known as Sandton Square, it was renamed Nelson Mandela Square on 31 March 2004 after a 6-metre statue of Nelson Mandela was installed on the square to honour the former South African president...
, to various markets and flea market
Flea market
A flea market or swap meet is a type of bazaar where inexpensive or secondhand goods are sold or bartered. It may be indoors, such as in a warehouse or school gymnasium; or it may be outdoors, such as in a field or under a tent...
s, such as the Oriental Plaza and the Rosebank Flea Market
Rosebank, Gauteng
Rosebank is a cosmopolitan commercial and residential suburb in the northwestern part of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 3, and will be the location of a Gautrain station in 2011....
; the latter are popular for souvenirs and African Art
African art
African art constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Though many casual observers tend to generalize "traditional" African art, the continent is full of people, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture. The definition also includes the art of the African...
. See above. (Cultural) tourists also visit the "Mai Mai Market" ("Ezinyangeni" – the place of healers; located on the eastern wing of the city centre) dedicated to traditional herbs and traditional healers
Sangoma
A sangoma is a practitioner of herbal medicine, divination and counselling in traditional Nguni societies of Southern Africa .The philosophy is based on a belief in ancestral spirits...
.
The Cradle of Humankind
Cradle of Humankind
The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site first named by UNESCO in 1999, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng province. This site currently occupies ; it contains a complex of limestone caves, including the Sterkfontein Caves, where the 2.3-million...
a UNESCO World Heritage Site is 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) to the northwest of the city. The Sterkfontein
Sterkfontein
-References:-References:-References:: : : :...
fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
site is famous for being the world's richest hominid site and produced the first adult Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 2–3 million years ago in the Pliocene. In common with the older Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus was slenderly built, or gracile, and was thought to have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. Fossil...
and the first near-complete skeleton of an early Australopithecine
Australopithecine
The term australopithecine refers generally to any species in the related genera Australopithecus or Paranthropus. These species occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene era, and were bipedal and dentally similar to humans, but with a brain size not much larger than modern apes, lacking the...
. Other attractions in this area include the Lesedi Cultural Village
Lesedi Cultural Village
Lesedi Cultural Village is a tourist village which celebrates the cultural traditions of several different peoples of Southern Africa. It reproduces traditional dwellings and offers demonstrations of dances and other cultural activities. It is situated near Johannesburg, within the Cradle of...
, while Magaliesburg
Magaliesburg, Gauteng
Magaliesburg is a small town situated below the Witwatersrand mountain range in Gauteng, South Africa. The Magaliesberg mountain range is north and visible from town, hence the name "Magaliesburg". Burg is the Afrikaans name for Town whereas Berg is for mountain.The town and surrounds are popular...
and the Hartbeespoort Dam
Hartbeespoort Dam
Hartbeespoort Dam also known as Harties is a dam situated in the North West Province of South Africa . It lies in a valley to the south of the Magaliesberg mountain range and north of the Witwatersberg mountain range, about 35 kilometres west of Pretoria...
are popular weekend (and holiday) destinations for Johannesburg residents. The Origins Centre Museum, see below, covers the origins of humankind in Africa, and houses an extensive collection of rock art
Rock art
Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...
.
Johannesburg and environs offer various options to visitors wishing to view wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
. The Johannesburg Zoo
Johannesburg Zoo
The Johannesburg Zoo is a zoo in Johannesburg, South Africa. Established in 1904, it has traditionally been owned and operated by the City of Johannesburg...
is one of the largest in South Africa. The Lion Park
Lion Park
Lion Park is a 2 km² lion wildlife conservation enclosure in Gauteng province in South Africa.The Lion Park is situated near Lanseria Airport and Fourways within distance of Johannesburg and Pretoria...
nature reserve, near Lanseria
Lanseria
Lanseria is a place in the northwest of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the location of Lanseria International Airport, which is the smaller of Johannesburg's two international airports - the main international airport is OR Tambo International Airport to the east of the city...
, is home to over 80 lions and various other game, while the Krugersdorp Nature Reserve, a 1500 Ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
Game Reserve
Game reserve
A game reserve is an area of land set aside for maintenance of wildlife for tourism or hunting purposes. Many game reserves are located in Africa. Most are open to the public, and tourists commonly take sightseeing safaris or hunt wild game....
, is a forty minute drive from the city centre. The De Wildt Cheetah Centre in the Magaliesberg
Magaliesberg
The Magaliesberg is a mountain range extending from Pretoria in the north of the Gauteng Province to a point south of Pilanesberg, in the North West Province, South Africa...
runs a successful breeding program for cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
, wild dog
African Wild Dog
Lycaon pictus is a large canid found only in Africa, especially in savannas and lightly wooded areas. It is variously called the African wild dog, African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, painted dog, painted wolf, painted hunting dog, spotted dog, or ornate wolf...
and other endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
. The Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve, situated in the "Cradle of Humankind" on 1200 Ha of "the typical highveld
Highveld
The Highveld is a high plateau region of inland South Africa which is largely home to the largest metropolitan area in the country, the Gauteng City Region, which accounts for one-third of South Africa's population.-Location and description:...
of Gauteng" also runs a breeding programme for endangered species including Bengal Tigers, Siberian Tigers and the extremely rare White lion
White lion
The white lion is occasionally found in wildlife reserves in South Africa and is a rare color mutation of the Kruger subspecies of lion . It has been perpetuated by selective breeding in zoos around the world...
.
Sports teams and stadiums
Johannesburg's most popular sports by participation are association football, cricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, and running. Early each Sunday morning, tens of thousands of runners gather to take part in informal runs organised by several athletic clubs.
Football
The city has several football clubs in the Premier Soccer LeaguePremier Soccer League
Premier Soccer League is the trading name of the National Soccer League of South Africa. The top league is the ABSA Premiership, sponsored by ABSA...
(PSL) and the National First Division
National First Division
The National First Division is the second-highest league of South African club football after the Premier Soccer League . Both the NFD and PSL are organised by the National Soccer League.-For seasons in 2007-11:...
. In the PSL, the top Johannesburg teams are all fierce rivals and include Kaizer Chiefs (nicknamed Amakhosi), Orlando Pirates (nicknamed the Buccaneers), Moroka Swallows and Witwatersrand University (nicknamed the Clever Boys). They are based at the city's Rand
Rand Stadium
Rand Stadium is a stadium in Rosettenville, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is set to be utilized as a training field for teams participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup after being completely rebuilt and reopened in August 2008....
, Orlando
Orlando Stadium
Orlando Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium, in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. The stadium was originally built in 1959, at a cost of £37,500, with a capacity of 24,000....
, Dobsonville
Dobsonville Stadium
Dobsonville Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is mostly used for football matches, but is also equipped with an athletics track. It is the home ground of Moroka Swallows, a football club which plays in the Premier Soccer League...
and Bidvest
Bidvest Stadium
Bidvest Stadium, is a multi-use stadium in the Braampark suburb of Johannesburg, at the Gauteng Province in South Africa. The stadium has a dedicated field to host football matches with a capacity of 5,000 seats, and other fields to host other sports disciplines...
stadiums. Several large scale league and cup games are played at Soccer City the venue of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
final. First Division teams include Jomo Cosmos
Jomo Cosmos
Jomo Cosmos is a South African football club based in Johannesburg that plays in the Premier Soccer League. The club is owned and coached by South African soccer legend Jomo "Black Prince" Sono....
. Katlehong City and Alexandra United, play at Alexandra
Alexandra Stadium
The Alexandra Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Crewe, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Crewe Alexandra...
and Reiger Park stadia respectively.
Cricket
Cricket is one of the more popular sports. In cricket, the Highveld Lions represent Johannesburg, the rest of Gauteng as well as the North West Province at the Wanderers StadiumWanderers Stadium
BIDVest Wanderers Stadium is a stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Test, One Day and First class cricket matches are played here. It is also the home ground for the Highveld Lions, formerly known as Gauteng .The stadium has a seating...
which was the venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup
2003 Cricket World Cup
-Group stage tables and results:The top three teams from each pool qualify for the next stage, carrying forward the points already scored against fellow qualifiers, plus a quarter of the points scored against the teams that failed to qualify.-Pool A:...
Final in which Australia successfully defended their title. Wanderers Stadium hosted what many cricket fans consider the greatest ever ODI match in which South Africa successfully chased down 434 runs
Australia in South Africa, 5th ODI, 2006
The 5th One Day International cricket match between South Africa and Australia was played on 12 March 2006 at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. The match broke many cricket records, including both the first and the second team innings score of over 400 runs. Australia won the toss and elected to...
. They take part in the first class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
SuperSport Series
SuperSport Series
The SuperSport Series is the main domestic first class cricket competition in South Africa, first contested in 1889-90. From 1990-91 it became known as the Castle Cup, and from 1996-97 by its current title...
, the one-day MTN Domestic Championship
MTN Domestic Championship
The 1 Day Cup is the premier domestic one-day cricket competition of South Africa, its matches having List A status...
and the Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
Standard Bank Pro 20 Series
Standard Bank Pro 20 Series
The Standard Bank Pro20 Series is the premier Twenty20 cricket competition in South Africa, first contested in the 2003–04 season. The Knights, the Titans and the Cape Cobras have each won the title twice and are the most successful teams....
.
Johannesburg also hosted matches from and the final of the ICC World Twenty20
ICC World Twenty20
The ICC World Twenty20 or ICC World T20 also referred to as the T20 World Cup is the international championship of Twenty20 cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council...
, in which India beat Pakistan in the final.
Rugby
The LionsLions (rugby franchise)
The Lions, known as the Cats between the 1998 and 2006 seasons, are a South African rugby union franchise that competes in the Super Rugby competition. From 2011 they are known as the MTNLions for sponsorship reasons. They have not achieved great success in this competition, finishing at the bottom...
, formerly the Cats, represent Johannesburg, North West
North West (South African province)
North West is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mafikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre of Gauteng.-History:...
and Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga , is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area...
in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby Rugby Competition, which includes teams from South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Transport
Airports
Johannesburg is served principally by OR Tambo International Airport (formerly Johannesburg International Airport and before that was known as Jan Smuts Airport) for both domestic and international flights. Lanseria AirportLanseria Airport
Lanseria International Airport is a privately owned international airport that is situated north of Randburg and Sandton to the north west of Johannesburg, South Africa. The airport can handle aircraft up to the Boeing 757-300 and Airbus A319.-History:...
, located to the north-west of the city and closer to the business hub of Sandton, is used for commercial flights to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, Port Elizabeth, Botswana, and Sun City
Sun City, North West
Sun City is a luxury casino and resort, situated in the North West Province of South Africa. It is located about two hours' drive from Johannesburg, near the city of Rustenburg. The complex borders the Pilanesberg Game Reserve.- History :...
. Other airports include Rand Airport
Rand Airport
Rand Airport is an airport in Germiston, South Africa. It was constructed in the 1920s as the main airport for Johannesburg, but the city outgrew it and replaced the airport firstly with Palmietfontein Airport in the late 1940s, then with the larger Jan Smuts International Airport in the...
and Grand Central Airport
Grand Central Airport
Grand Central Airport is a small privately owned airfield which is open to public air traffic. It is located in Midrand, halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa...
. Rand Airport, located in Germiston
Germiston, Gauteng
Germiston is a city in the East Rand of Gauteng in South Africa. Germiston is now the seat of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality which includes much of the East Rand, and is also considered part of Greater Johannesburg.-History:...
, is a small airfield used mostly for private aircraft and the home of South African Airways
South African Airways
South African Airways is the national flag carrier and largest airline of South Africa, with headquarters in Airways Park on the grounds of OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. The airline flies to 36 destinations worldwide from its hub at OR Tambo International...
's first Boeing 747 Classic
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
, the Lebombo, which is now an aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
museum. Grand Central is located in Midrand and also caters to small, private aircraft.
Freeways
The fact that Johannesburg is not near a large navigable body of water has meant that ground transportation has been the most important method of transporting people and goods in and out of the city. One of Africa's most famous "beltways" or ring roads/orbitals is the Johannesburg Ring RoadJohannesburg Ring Road
The Johannesburg Ring Road is Africa's most famous beltway. It is made up of a subset of the freeways that circle the city of Johannesburg, South Africa and services the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area. Construction on the Ring Road began in the late 1960s...
. The road is composed of three freeways that converge on the city, forming an 80 kilometres (49.7 mi) loop around it: the N3 Eastern Bypass
N3 Eastern Bypass (South Africa)
The N3 Eastern Bypass is a section of the Johannesburg Ring Road that forms a beltway around the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, as part of the N3. The first section of the freeway opened in 1971, from Buccleuch to Geldenhuys Interchange...
, which links Johannesburg with Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
; the N1 Western Bypass
N1 Western Bypass (South Africa)
The Western Bypass is a section of the N1 and the Johannesburg Ring Road located in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. The freeway was inially opened in 1975 as a route to avoid the city centre of Johannesburg and access for the western areas of the Witwatersrand. From the south, the Western...
, which links Johannesburg with Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
and Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
; and the N12 Southern Bypass
N12 Southern Bypass (South Africa)
The N12 Southern Bypass is a section of the Johannesburg Ring Road located in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. The freeway was the last section of the Ring Road to be built, with the final section opening in 1986. It was initially called the N13. From the west, the Southern Bypass begins at...
, which links Johannesburg with Witbank
Witbank
Witbank , also known as eMalahleni is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the eMalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for White Ridge and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wagon transport drivers rested...
and Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
. The N3 was built exclusively with asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
, while the N12
N12 (South Africa)
The N12 is a National Route in South Africa. It is maintained by the South African National Roads Agency.- Route :The road starts in George in the Western Cape and ends in Witbank in Mpumalanga. The road runs roughly from south to north, however, once it passes Kimberley in the Northern Cape, it...
and N1 sections were made with concrete, hence the nickname given to the N1 Western Bypass, "The Concrete Highway". In spite of being up to 12 lanes wide in some areas, the Johannesburg Ring Road is frequently clogged with traffic. The Gillooly's Interchange, built on an old farm and the point at which the N3 Eastern Bypass and the R24 Airport Freeway
R24 (Gauteng)
The R24 is a major East-West Regional Route in the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area that links OR Tambo International Airport with Rustenburg via Johannesburg, Krugersdorp and Magaliesburg....
intersect, is the busiest interchange in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also claimed that the N1 is the busiest road in South Africa.
Johannesburg has the most freeways connected to it. It has the N1, N3, N12, N14, N17, R21
R21 (Gauteng)
The R21 is a major north-south Regional Route in eastern Gauteng Province, South Africa. Built in the early 1970's, it remains the only other freeway that links Pretoria with Johannesburg, via the R24...
, R24
R24 (Gauteng)
The R24 is a major East-West Regional Route in the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area that links OR Tambo International Airport with Rustenburg via Johannesburg, Krugersdorp and Magaliesburg....
and the R59
R59 (Free State)
The R59 is a Regional Route in South Africa that connects Hertzogville with Alberton via Parys and Vereeniging.-External links:*...
, all leading to Johannesburg. The M1
M1 (Johannesburg)
The M1 De Villiers Graaff motorway is a major freeway in Johannesburg, South Africa. The highway connects the southern areas with the city centre and extends further north through Sandton...
and M2 freeways were built to direct traffic towards the city centre. These two freeways are congested due to mass urbanisation.
Taxis
Johannesburg has two kinds of taxis, metered taxisTaxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
and minibus taxis. Unlike many cities, metered taxis are not allowed to drive around the city looking for passengers and instead must be called and ordered to a destination. The Gauteng Provincial Government has launched a new metered taxi programme in an attempt to increase use of metered taxis in the city.
The minibus "taxis" are the de facto standard and essential form of transport for the majority of the population. Since the 1980s The minibus taxi industry has been severely affected by turf wars
Taxi wars in South Africa
The term taxi war is usually used to refer to the turf wars fought between taxi associations and individual minibus taxi drivers in South Africa, from the late 1980s onwards. These taxi wars are still raging to the present day....
.
Mass transit
The Metrorail GautengMetrorail Gauteng
Metrorail Gauteng is a network of commuter rail services in Gauteng province in South Africa, serving the Greater Johannesburg metropolitan area as well as Pretoria and its suburbs...
commuter rail system connects central Johannesburg to Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
, Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, and most of the satellite towns along the Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
. The railways transport huge numbers of workers everyday. However, the Metrorail infrastructure was built in Johannesburg's infancy and covers only the older areas in the city's south. The northern areas, including the business districts of Sandton
Sandton, Gauteng
Sandton is a wealthy area situated within the metro of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. The name comes from the combination of two of its suburbs, Sandown and Bryanston...
, Midrand
Midrand, Gauteng
Midrand is an area in central Gauteng Province, South Africa, between Centurion and Sandton. It was established as a municipality in 1981, but was incorporated the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in 2000...
, Randburg
Randburg, Gauteng
Randburg is an area located in northern Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. Formerly a separate municipality, its administration devolved to the newly created City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, along with neighbouring Sandton and Roodepoort, in the late 1990s.The resident demographic...
, and Rosebank
Rosebank, Gauteng
Rosebank is a cosmopolitan commercial and residential suburb in the northwestern part of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 3, and will be the location of a Gautrain station in 2011....
, are served by the rapid rail link Gautrain
Gautrain
Gautrain is an mass rapid transit railway system in Gauteng Province, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, and OR Tambo International Airport...
.
Trains
A part of the Gauteng Provincial Government's Blue IQ Project, GautrainGautrain
Gautrain is an mass rapid transit railway system in Gauteng Province, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, and OR Tambo International Airport...
has made provision for a rapid rail link, running north to south, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and west to east between Sandton and the OR Tambo International Airport. Construction of the Gautrain
Gautrain
Gautrain is an mass rapid transit railway system in Gauteng Province, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, and OR Tambo International Airport...
Rapid Rail started in October 2006 and as of August 2011, all stations were running except for Park Station in Johannesburg's CBD. It consists of a number of underground stations, as well as above ground stations. Stations on the North-South line include Johannesburg's Park Station
Johannesburg Park Station
Johannesburg Park Station is the central railway station in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, and the largest railway station in Africa. It is located between the Central Business District and Braamfontein, in the block bordered by Rissik, Wolmarans, Wanderers and Noord Streets...
, Rosebank
Rosebank (Gautrain station)
Rosebank is a metro station on the Gautrain rapid transit system in Rosebank, Johannesburg, Gauteng. It opened for passenger services on 2 August 2011 as part of the second phase of the Gautrain project.-Location:...
, Sandton
Sandton (Gautrain station)
Sandton is a metro station on the Gautrain rapid transit system in Sandton, Johannesburg. It opened to traffic on 8 June 2010 with service to OR Tambo International Airport.-Location:...
, Marlboro
Marlboro (Gautrain station)
Marlboro is a metro station on the Gautrain rapid transit system in Marlboro, Gauteng. It opened on 8 June 2010 with service to OR Tambo International Airport.-Location:...
, Midrand
Midrand (Gautrain station)
Midrand is a metro station on the Gautrain rapid transit system in Midrand, Gauteng. It is expected to open in 2011 as part of the second phase of the Gautrain project.-Location:...
and Pretoria
Pretoria railway station
Pretoria railway station is the central station in Pretoria, the executive capital of South Africa. It is located between Pretoria's central business district and Salvokop, in a 1910 building designed by Herbert Baker...
. There is also a line from the OR Tambo International Airport travelling to Sandton via Rhodesfield
Rhodesfield (Gautrain station)
Rhodesfield is a metro station on the Gautrain rapid transit and Metrorail systems in Rhodesfield, Kempton Park, Gauteng, to the east of Johannesburg. It is expected to open on 8 June 2010 with service to Sandton.-Location:...
and Marlboro.
The east-west line from the airport to Sandton opened in June 2010 in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
, while the North-South line opened on 02 August 2011, except for Park Station which will open at a later date.
The rail system was designed to alleviate traffic on the N1
N1 (South Africa)
The N1 is a South African National Route, running from Cape Town to Beit Bridge on the border with Zimbabwe. It is also the main road link between Johannesburg and Cape Town, and forms the first section of the famed Cape to Cairo Road....
freeway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, which records vehicle loads of up to 300,000 per day. An extensive bus feeder system has also been implemented, which allows access to the main stations from the outer suburbs. This is the first new railway system that has been laid in South Africa since 1977.
As of mid-2010, a high speed rail link
Johannesburg-Durban High Speed Rail
In April 2010, the South African Minister of Transport proposed a Johannesburg-Durban high speed rail system. There are concerns about the cost and engineering difficulty of the project, which would have to cross the Drakensberg mountains. but the minister repeated proposals in June 2010...
has been proposed between Johannesburg and Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
.
Buses
Johannesburg is served by a busBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
fleet operated by Metrobus, a corporate unit of the City of Johannesburg. It has a fleet consisting of approximately 550 single and double-decker buses, plying 84 different routes in the city. This total includes 200 modern buses (150 double-deckers and 50 single-deckers), made by Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
and Marcopolo/Brasa in 2002. Metrobus' fleet carries approximately 20 million passengers per annum. In addition there are a number of private bus operators, though most focus on the inter-city routes, or on bus charters for touring groups. The City's main bus terminus is situated in Gandhi Square
Gandhi square
Gandhi Square is a plaza located in the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is named after the political activist and pacifist, Mahatma Gandhi....
, where passengers can also obtain information regarding the Metrobus service from the walk-in customer information desk.
A new bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
named Rea Vaya has also been implemented. It currently serves to transport people from Johannesburg's southern neighbourhoods into and around the CBD.
PUTCO
PUTCO
The Public Utility Transport Corporation provides commuter bus services in Gauteng, Limpopo and the western parts of Mpumalanga in South Africa. PUTCO was established in 1945 after the bus strike of 1944...
also operates bus routes in and around the city.
Education and culture
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Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
and public universities
Public university
A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
. Johannesburg is served by the public universities University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
and the University of Johannesburg
University of Johannesburg
The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Technikon Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University . Prior to the merger, the Daveyton and Soweto campuses of the former Vista University had been incorporated into RAU...
.
University of Johannesburg
University of Johannesburg
The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Technikon Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University . Prior to the merger, the Daveyton and Soweto campuses of the former Vista University had been incorporated into RAU...
was formed on 1 January 2005 when three separate universities and campuses—Rand Afrikaans University
Rand Afrikaans University
The Rand Afrikaans University ' was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surrounds in from 1967 to 2004...
, Technikon Witwatersrand
Technikon Witwatersrand
The Technikon Witwatersrand was a technikon located in Johannesburg, South Africa. On 1 January 2005, it merged with Rand Afrikaans University and some campuses of Vista University to form the University of Johannesburg, and is now one of many campuses of the new university.-Origins:Technikon...
, and the Johannesburg campuses of Vista University
Vista University
Vista University, South Africa was established in 1981 by the apartheid government to ensure that urban black South Africans seeking tertiary education would be accommodated within the townships rather than on campuses reserved for other population groups ....
—were merged. The new university offers education primarily in English and Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, although courses may be taken in any of South Africa's official languages.
The University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
is one of the leading universities in Africa, and is famous as a centre of resistance to apartheid.
The University of Pretoria
University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria is a multi campus public research university located in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa...
's business school the Gordon Institute of Business Science
Gordon Institute of Business Science
Gordon Institute of Business Science is the business school of the University of Pretoria in Johannesburg, South Africa and a leading South African business school. It is located in the heart of Illovo, Johannesburg, close to the Sandton financial and commercial business hub...
is located in Illovo, Johannesburg.
Private universities include Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
, which has one of its eight campuses in Johannesburg (six of the other campuses are in Australia, while the eighth is in Malaysia), and Midrand Graduate Institute
Midrand Graduate Institute
Midrand Graduate Institute is a South African Private Higher Education Institution based in Midrand, Gauteng Province. It offers Bachelor's degrees in Commerce, Information Technology, Law, Social Sciences, Creative Arts, Communications and Science...
which is located in Midrand.
Johannesburg also has one of several film schools in the country, one of which has won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Student Film in 2006. The South African School of Motion Picture and Live Performance, or AFDA for short, is situated in Auckland Park.
Johannesburg also has three teacher-training colleges and a technical college. There are numerous kindergartens, primary schools and high schools in the region. There are some libraries, art galleries and museums. One of them is MuseumAfrica, located in the CBD. Specialist museums cover subjects such as Africana, costume, design, fossils, geology, military history
Military history
Military history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, their cultures, economies and changing intra and international relationships....
, medical, pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
, photography and transportation networks such as railways. Gold Reef City
Gold Reef City
Gold Reef City is a large amusement park in Johannesburg, South Africa. Located on an old gold mine, the park is themed around the gold rush on the Witwatersrand. Park staff wear period costumes of the 1880s, and the buildings on the park are designed to mimic the same period...
, a living museum, was originally part of the Crown Mines Complex, where gold was mined to a depth of 3000 metres (9,842.5 ft). The Market Theatre stages plays, comedy shows, and musical performances. The Civic Theatre complex hosts drama, opera and ballet.
Public Art in Johannesburg
Johannesburg is home to an extensive portfolio of public art. A diverse and evolving city, Johannesburg boasts a vibrant art scene and a variety of works that range from sculptures to murals to pieces by internationally renowned artists like William KentridgeWilliam Kentridge
William Kentridge is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films. These are constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. He continues this process meticulously, giving each change to the drawing a quarter of a second to two...
and Gerhard Marx
Gerhard Marx
-Biography:Born in 1976, he completed his Master degree in Fine Arts cum laude at the University of Cape Town in 2004. He has worked with well known artists such as William Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Company...
’s Fire Walker
Fire Walker
The Fire Walker is a public art sculpture in Johannesburg’s inner city. The piece is located on Sauer and Simmonds Street, off of the Queen Elizabeth Bridge...
. Many pieces are developed through community workshops, such as the Vilakazi Street sculptures. Others are functional, such as street furniture found in Hillbrow and the City Centre.
AECI Dynamite Factory Museum
The AECI Dynamite Factory Museum, housed in the 1895 residence of a mining official, records the history of explosives, with particular emphasis on their use in the mining industry. It also provides a social commentary and insight into the part played by some of the world famous figures who helped shape the destiny of southern Africa.Adler Museum of Medicine
History of Medicine, brainchild of Dr Cyril Adler, was formally inaugurated 1962. The Museum's role was to collect and preserve for posterity all material that would illustrate the History of medicine in general and of South Africa in particular.Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill is the home of the Constitutional Court, but also the site of Johannesburg’s notorious Old Fort Prison Complex, commonly known as Number Four, where thousands of ordinary people were brutally punished before the dawn of democracy in 1994. Many of South Africa’s leading political activists, including Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, were detained here.Hector Peterson Museum
The Hector Peterson Museum in Soweto commemorates the 566 people who died in the student uprising that followed the events of 16 June 1976. The museum is named for Hector Peterson, a 12-year-old boy who was the first person shot dead by police on that day, and is located near a memorial to his death.James Hall Transport Museum
The James Hall museum of Transport is the largest and most comprehensive museum of land transport in South Africa. It was established by the late Jimmie Hall together with the City of Johannesburg in February 1964.Johannesburg Art Gallery
The Johannesburg Art Gallery is an art gallery located in Joubert Park, in the central business district of Johannesburg, South Africa. The building was designed by Edward Lutyens and consists of 15 exhibition halls and sculpture gardens. It houses collections of 17th century Dutch paintings, 18th and 19th century British and European art, 19th century South African works, a large contemporary collection of 20th century local and international art and a print cabinet containing works from the 15th century to the present.Madiba Freedom Museum
Named after the former President Mandela's clan. The museums theme is Mzabalazo and charts South Africa's journey to democracy.Museum Africa
Museum Africa is located in Newtown, and covers the history of both the city and the continent.Origins Centre Museum
Located on the campus of the University of the WitwatersrandUniversity of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
in Braamfontein
Braamfontein
Braamfontein is a central suburb of Johannesburg, in South Africa. It is well located, straddling Jan Smuts Avenue and Empire Road. The Nelson Mandela bridge is a landmark that connects Braamfontein to the city...
, this museum contains some excellent examples of southern African rock art.
Bernberg Fashion Museum
Bernberg Fashion Museum is a primarily a museum collection, consisting of objects, and explains why and how clothing has changed and how the fashions of the past influence those of today.South African National Museum of Military History
It is the only museum of its kind in South Africa and provides a nucleus of Museum and military history expertise in southern Africa. At the Museum you can see all types of guns, tanks, armoured cars, aircraft and naval hardware, including a midget submarineMidget submarine
A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to 6 or 8, with little or no on-board living accommodation...
called the Molch used by the Germans in the Second World War (1939–1945).
Zoology Museum
The Zoology Museum is the only natural history museum in Johannesburg which is unusual because all the other major cities in South Africa have large public natural history museums. It has retained a unique character as the display specimens are exhibited in finely crafted teak cabinets which allow the viewer to engage directly with scores of objects at close range.Twin towns – sister cities
Johannesburg's twin towns and sister citiesTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
are:
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